Zimbru (football club)

• 1947-1949 - Dynamo
• 1950-1957 - The Petrel
• 1958-1965 and 1967-1971 - “Moldova”
• 1966 - "Avyntul"
• 1972-1990 - "Nistru"
• 1991 - Zimbrul
• Since 1992 - Zimbru

Dynamo

The date of foundation of the Zimbru football club is considered to be May 16, 1947. On this day, a debut took place in the USSR Championship in Chisinau Dynamo: a match in the Ukrainian Class B zone - in Odessa against Pishchevik (0: 1). A day later, there was a second match. And again, the defeat - 0: 4.

The performance in the championship was unsuccessful: Dynamo finished the season in last, 13th place. The team was led by Sergey Eremin (until 1949). He was assisted by Georgy Mocan, who later raised a galaxy of Moldavian footballers and became a well-deserved coach of Moldova. And among the players of that team Sergey Kornilov stood out, who also did a lot for the development of Moldavian football and subsequently received the title of Honored Coach of the country.

Petrel

In 1950, the place of Dynamo in the championship took "Petrel". It was under this name that the Moldavian team achieved the right to play in the elite division of the USSR championship, and then achieved the greatest success in the union times. In 1956, in the year of its debut, Petrel took sixth place in Class A, in which 12 teams performed. Interestingly, after the first round, the impudent newcomer shared 1-3 places with such giants as the Moscow Spartak and Torpedo.

Under the name "Petrel", the predecessor of Zimbru entered the history of the elite division of the USSR championship as the only team that managed to recoup before the score 4: 4, losing 0: 4. It happened on September 11, 1957 in Moscow in a match against Spartak, the backbone of which was the Olympic champions of Melbourne-1956. As part of the "Petrel" shone such football players as #REDIRECT Yuri Korotkov , Mikhail Mukhortov , Vitaliy Vatskevich , Mikhail Potapov , Valentin Mirgorodsky .

“Moldova” and “Avyntul”

In 1958, the team received the name "Moldova". In the same year, the team had its own base - at the very place where it is located now. Since 1955, striker Vladimir Zinkler played for the team. Speaking for Moldova, he became the first and only player on the team to be included in the list of 33 best football players of the USSR championship and played in the USSR Olympic team. The “Moldova” also included Nikolai Esin , Vladimir Vostroilov , Evgeni Larin , Anatoly Morarica , Valeri Volostnykh , Valeri Kolbasyuk , Anatoliy Mironov .

In 1964, Moldova left the elite division of the union championship. It was not possible to regain a place there a year later. The new name Avyntul (since 1966) did not help either. But in 1966, two students of Moldavian football - Anatoly Teslev and Grigory Yanets - became European champions among young men in the USSR national team. A year later, the team was returned the name "Moldova".

Nistru

The team returned to the big leagues in 1974 under the name "Nistru", received two years earlier. It was not possible to gain a foothold in the major league, but victories were won over the champion - Kiev Dynamo and the silver medalist - Moscow Spartak with the same score 1-0. The match of the first round of the championship 74 against Dynamo Kyiv took place on May 9 and its outcome was decided by the exact blow of the Nistru player Rudolf Atamalyan. Staying in the big leagues in 1983 was just as fleeting.

In the first league, Nistra gained a reputation of a strong middle peasant. Pavel Chebanu, Ion Karas, Alexander Matsyura, Sergey Dubrovin, Anatoly Rybak , Nikolai Chebotar, Georgy Teglyatsov, Yuri Khlopotnov, Nikolai Mikhailov, Grigory Batich , Alexander Spiridon , Vyacheslav Protsenko, Sergey Savchenko were remembered for their vivid play for Nistra. In the mid-1980s, Igor Dobrovolsky , who became the 1988 Olympic champion in Seoul , began his career as part of Nistru.

In 1986, “Nistru”, after a leap of coaches and players leaving for other clubs, left the first league, taking the last, 24th place and setting the “league record” of the first league - 101 goals conceded in a season.

In 1987-1988 Nistru played in the 5th zone of the 2nd league. At the invitation of the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova, the renowned coach Vladimir Emets came to revive the team, who in 1983 led the Dnepropetrovsk Dnipro to the gold medals of the USSR championship. He managed to restore the team that took 1st place in his group through his innovative ideas, establishing the strictest discipline and inviting a number of players from the big leagues (Nikolai Vasiliev, Viktor Kuznetsov, Anatoly Radenko and others). But the health of Emets was undermined, and on November 9, 1987, right after the final butt match “Nistru” - “Kuban” (2-0), he suddenly died right in the locker room. The team was unable to return to the first league due to two lost away matches.

The following year, the team was headed by another well-known Soviet specialist, Ahmed Alekserov , who returned the team to the first league. In 1989, “Nistru” took 10th place in the first league. However, the nationalist campaign in Moldova forced Alekserov to leave his post. Following him, several more strong players left the team. Some of them moved to Tiraspol Tiligul. In 1991, in the last USSR championship, “Nistru”, renamed “Zimbru” (“Bison”), under the leadership of Pavel Cebanu took the 20th place and had to leave the first league again.

Zimbru

Since 1991, the club has its current name. Zimbru supported the reputation of the strongest Moldavian team until 2001 in the Moldavian Championship . In 1992, the team became the first champion of Moldova.

Zimbru is the only team that has participated in all tournaments in the National Division. During this time, the club eight times became the champion of Moldova and five times won the Cup of the country. In the 1995/96 season, the team reached the 1/16 finals of the UEFA Cup, and in the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 seasons, it made its way to the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

Among the players who glorified Zimbru in the 90s are: Alexander Spiridon , Alexander Kurtiyan , Sergey Kleschenko , Yuri Miterev , Ion Testemitanu , Radu Rebezh , Sergey Epuryanu , Boris Chebotar .

In the 2011/12 season , the club won bronze medals at the national championship. On May 25, 2014, the team defeated Sheriff Tiraspol 3-1 in the Moldova Cup final and won the sixth country cup in its history ^[2] , and finished fifth in the championship. In the same year, the team reached the playoff round of the Europa League , breaking in the first three qualifying rounds the Macedonian “ Shkendia ”, the Sofia CSKA and the Austrian “ Gredig ”. At the fourth stage, the rivals got the Greek PAOK ^[3] . The Chisinau team won the first match with a score of 1: 0, the return game ended in a major defeat with a score of 0: 4, so Zimbru failed to break into the group stage of the Europa League for the first time in its history ^[4] . In December 2014, Vyacheslav Rusnak was appointed to the post of head coach of the Chisinau club, replacing Oleg Kubarev ^[5] . The season 2014/15 the team finished in 6th place.

Before the start of the new football season, the club has undergone global changes. Moldovan businessman Valeriu Moraru became the new investor in the Chisinau club, and Romanian specialist Stefan Stoica was appointed head coach. Also, Marine Mitran became the vice president, goalkeeper coach Mihai Moraru, sports director Alexei Popa ^[6] . The season 2015/16 the team finished in 3rd place.

On May 23, 2018, in the Moldova Cup final, the team lost 2–0 to the Orhei club “ Milsami ” ^[7] .

USSR

• USSR Championship : 6th place ( 1956 )
• USSR Cup : 1/4 finals ( 1963 )
• USSR First League : Winner (1955)

Moldova

• Champion of Moldova (8): 1992 , 1992/93 , 1993/94 , 1994/95 , 1995/96 , 1997/98 , 1998/99 , 1999/00
• Silver medalist of the Championship of Moldova (5): 1996/97 , 2000/01 , 2002/03 , 2005/06 , 2006/07
• Moldavian Championship bronze medalist (4): 2001/02 , 2003/04 , 2011/12 , 2015/16
• Moldavian Cup Winner (6): 1996/97 , 1997/98 , 2002/03 , 2003/04 , 2006/07 , 2013/14
• Moldova Cup Finalist (3): 1994/95 , 1999/00 , 2017/18
• Moldavian Super Cup Winner (1): 2014
• Finalist of the Super Cup of Moldova (3): 2003 , 2004 , 2007

International

• Eurocups: 1/16 UEFA Cup ( 1996 )
• Commonwealth Cup Finalist (1): 2000

• Official site of FC Zimbru Chisinau

• Team profile on SPORTS.md
• Team Profile at www.divizianationala.com
• Statistics on the KLISF website (inaccessible link)
• The year Zimbru was founded is not 1947? History of the founding of the flagship of the MSSR